Tuesday, February 10, 2015

CD Review: The March Divide "+1"

There are times when I feel like I've said all that I can about The March Divide. Whenever I start to feel that way though, I just have to ask myself whether or not The March Divide has said all that they needed to say. For me, to be able to feel as if I've said all that can be said about The March Divide would mean that The March Divide has done all that they can as a band and thus should not be making new music. I find this to be quite far from reality and as such I hope that I can continue to write about The March Divide for years to come.

On "+1", which I will say is seven new songs from them because sometimes that could be considered a full length and sometimes it could be an EP but I'm not here to really care about or discuss that part of this so I digress. The music on here is an acoustic flavored bit of rock that to me goes from sounding like I Am the Avalanche to Soul Asylum and, well, both are rather vague in comparison but they are both two of my all-time favorite artists so just know that what is coming out of here does sound that good.

This is just plain rocking and my three year old really digs it as well. He was dancing around and actually told me that he liked it (I feel like he's getting used to hearing this the same way some would the voice of Elmo or some other character designed for kids, but I do prefer this to that) The last song kind of slows down for the power ballad and when he's really belting it out all I can think of is the band Lit, who for what it's worth get a bad rap for being known only for that one song (I followed them on tour once because Shades Apart was opening and Lit was surprisingly good live)

When I listen to "+1" though, and really from the very first line of the very first song, all I can think of is the obvious that has already been stated. We know that The March Divide can write good songs. We know that they can get stuck into your head and implant themselves as seeds the way that any great band can do. But what becomes the question for me is when is it enough? Will there come a time when we can say "This is enough songs by The March Divide"? I certainly hope not because the number of bands that I can say no to that question is growing smaller every day.

One of if not the biggest factors I consider at this stage in the game is how you can relate to these songs and for me the themes that I take from them come from a place where you feel lost. You don't know why you're on this earth, you feel alone and you're just so... It's an apt representation of how we should question every day of our lives. And if you ever reach that sort of comfort, that complacency, in your lifetime then I could argue that you're already dead.

As I writer I feel I have a natural curiosity. I'm always wondering about things and as such questions left without answers- subjects we may never find the answers to really- are some of my favorite things. To me, these songs represent that part of life and the idea that, at the risk of sounding crude, we're all floating around on this giant rock and none of us really knows what we're doing here. This is the anthem for that. If you're not down with that, then you could always leave the rock.